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Sean Kuti & Egypt 80 at NH7 Weekender. Photo by OML Entertainment Pvt. Ltd- Wikimedia commons

Top 10 Remarquable Facts about Fela Kuti

Fela Anklápó Kuti (born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti on October 15, 1938 and died on August 2, 1997) was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist, lead artist, songwriter, political activist, and Pan-Africanist. He is generally acknowledged as the originator of Afrobeat, an African music genre that fuses West African music with American funk and jazz.

At his peak, he was described as one of Africa’s most “stressful and personable music performers.” According to AllMusic, he is a musical and sociopolitical advocate of worldwide importance.

Kuti was the son of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, a Nigerian women’s rights activist. Following early international perceptions, he and his band Africa 70 (starring drummer and musical director Tony Allen) rose to prominence in Nigeria during the 1970s, when he was a vocal opponent and focus of Nigeria’s military dictatorships.

He established the Kalakuta Republic commune in 1970, which declared its freedom from military dictatorship. The commune was damaged in an attack in 1978. He was imprisoned by Muhammadu Buhari’s government in 1984, but was released after 20 months. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he continued to make music and perform. Since his death in 1997, his son, Femi Kuti, has supervised remasters and soundtracks of his music.

1.Kuti showcased his political views through his music

In the late 1960s, his political awareness influenced him to change his “slave name” Ransome and embrace the middle name “Anikulapo,” which means “to have control over death.” Kuti invented and helped popularize the Afrobeat genre, which is a fusion of funk, jazz, salsa, calypso, and traditional Nigerian music, in the 1960s.

His unruly song lyrics cemented his status as a political dissident. Afrobeat was linked to political, social, and cultural remarks about greed and corruption.

2.Kuti’s early childhood and his family

Sean Kuti & Egypt 80 at NH7 Weekender. Photo by OML Entertainment Pvt. Ltd- Wikimedia commons

His mother was a top feminist and anti-colonial activist in Nigeria, and his father, a preacher, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers.

They intended for their three sons to pursue careers in medicine (and Olikoye Ransome-Kuti would go on to become Nigeria’s health minister) however,  Fela, a naught one from the start, changed his mind within days of arriving in London to study.

Between 1958 and 1961, he formed the Koola Lobitos while attending Trinity College of Music. As a trumpet player, he led this highlife-influenced jazz band, capitalizing on the underground London craze for African dance music in the 1960s.

3.The talented artist was heavily influenced by Malcolm X, his interest in politics grew

Kuti’s music became growingly politically charged after his 1969 tour of the United States, where he was impacted by the politics of Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, and other militants.

In songs like “Zombie,” “Monkey Banana,” “Beasts of No Nation,” and “Upside Down,” Fela (as he was widely regarded) and his band, known more commonly as the Nigeria 70, Africa 70, and later the Egypt 80, performed for packed houses at early-morning concerts held at Fela’s frequently raided nightclub in Lagos.

The unemployed, underprivileged, and victimised were moved by the firebrand singer, who gyrated over the keyboard while singing in English and Yoruba.

4.Kuti’s mother was unfortunately seriously injured during an altercation with the military

Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, his mother, was an anti-colonialist activist. She had an impact on her son’s political activism. Fela Kuti released the album Zombie in 1977.

It was a derisive attack on Nigerian soldiers, using the zombie metaphor to refer to the Nigerian military’s strategies and the soldiers’ blind obedience to commands. In reply, the military assaulted him and threw his mother out their home’s window. She died as a result of her injuries in 1978.

5.He got to tour London in the mid 1960’s with African 70 group but was once caught with marijuana

In the mid 1960s, Fela Kuti was performing with the Koola Lobitos at London’s Flamingo club when he first met Ginger Baker. When the drummer flew to Lagos in 1970 and heard Afrobeat on Nigerian radio, he chose to work with the horn player. (Baker would later fall in love with Lagos and its artistic lifestyle to the point where he developed a 16-track studio called Batakota there, irrespective of the fact that there was a war going on at the time.) Later that year, Baker returned to London with Kuti and his Africa 70 group.

They performed a collaborative gig at Abbey Road in front of 150 guests, which EMI Nigeria would release as Live!. By any reasonable standard, the four-track album is one of the best live records of all time, featuring not one, but two of the era’s most magnificent drummers (Tony Allen being the other).

Live! It should have been the start of a wonderful creative collaboration. Other recordings were mentioned, and a joint tour was planned, but when a friend of Kuti’s was found by Heathrow officials with a huge quantity of marijuana tucked away in a drum and only Ginger Baker’s address, Baker was arrested. Baker’s daughter was expelled from private school as a result of the fallout, and plans for the group fell apart.

6.It is said that Kuti died of AIDS at the age of 59

Sean Kuti & Egypt 80 at NH7 Weekender. Photo by OML Entertainment Pvt. Ltd- Wikimedia commons

On 3 August 1997, Kuti’s brother Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, an influential AIDS activist and former Minister of Health, declared that Kuti had died the day before from AIDS health problems. Kuti was an AIDS denier, and his widow insisted that he did not die of AIDS. Seun, his youngest son, took over as leader of Kuti’s former band Egypt 80. The band is still active in 2020, releasing music under the name Seun Kuti & Egypt 80.

7.Kuti was quite rebellious when it came to following rules which got him imprisoned

His politically sensitive songs, which criticized Nigeria’s military government, incited officials to invade his club on a regular basis, in search of grounds to imprison him. He also established a communal compound nearby, which he declared the independent Kalakuta Republic. As commune leader, he frequently sparked debate and drew attention by encouraging sex, polygamy (he married 27 women), and drug use, particularly marijuana.

8.He very political and even ran for the Nigerian presidential seat

In 1979, Fela founded the Movement of the People and ran for Nigeria’s presidency however, did not win the elections. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison for cash trafficking five years later. After his release, he abandoned active political protest and left his son, Femi, to carry the Afro-beat torch. Fela was imprisoned again for murder in 1993, but the charges were later dropped.

9.While on tour Kuti’s fans rioted and caused Ghana to ban him from visiting

Sean Kuti & Egypt 80 at NH7 Weekender. Photo by OML Entertainment Pvt. Ltd- Wikimedia commons

In addition, there were two concerts in the year: the first in Accra, where violent protests broke out during the song “Zombie,” causing Kuti to be barred from entering Ghana; and the second after the Berlin Jazz Festival, when most of Kuti’s musicians abandoned him due to rumors that he plotted to utilize all of the proceeds to support his presidential candidacy.

Kuti founded his national party, Movement of the People (MOP), in 1979 to “clean up society like a mop,” but it rapidly became dormant due to his clashes with the government of the day. MOP preached Nkrumahism and Africanism.

10.Kuti had more than one wife, he had 27!

Kuti married 27 women in a single wedding ceremony in 1978. He would ultimately divorce all of them.

He explained his decision in the documentary Finding Fela: “I wanted it to be meaningful… to have a meaningful life.” Tradition dictates that I marry 27 women.”